OMAHA, Neb. – University of Nebraska Omaha head cross country coach Steve Smith and assistant coach Marc Bierbaum announced today the seven student-athletes who will join the team for the 2012 season.  The group includes six freshmen and a sophomore.

“This recruiting class is full of great runners and potential,” said Bierbaum.  “We have a couple of top runners from Iowa like Carolyn Newhouse from Marion and  Kristen Carmichael from Corning who will be expected to step right in and push to be in the top five right away.  

“We have some very talented runners in this class from Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan that I can't wait to see progress through this upcoming year.  Kourtney Osentoski, Karo Garcia, Avery Schmidt and Jackie Mezick come to UNO with numerous career highlights, and I think they will complement what has been built this past year very well.”

UNO begins its season with its traditional home meet, the UNO/Creighton Classic at Chili Greens on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 10 a.m.  In addition, the Mavericks will take part in meets at Nebraska, Colorado, Briar Cliff and South Dakota leading up to the Summit League Championship hosted by Oakland on Oct. 27.

Three of the incoming student-athletes are from Nebraska, three are from Iowa and one from Michigan.   The following is an alphabetical list of the incoming runners:

Kristen Carmichael, Hometown:  Corning, Iowa
Carmichael was four-year letter winner in cross country and track for Corning High School, helping the Red Raiders qualify for the state meet as both a junior and a senior.  As a junior, she was the conference and district champion in the 1,500 meters and the 3,000 meters in track and finished as the state runner-up in the 3,000 and was sixth in the 1,500.  She was also conference and district champion in both events as a sophomore.

Karo Garcia, Hometown:  Columbus, Neb.
Garcia was a four-year letter winner in cross country and track at Columbus High School.  She qualified for the state meet in both cross country and track as a junior.  As a freshman, she was part of Columbus' school record two-mile relay team.  Garcia also lettered in swimming as a senior.

Michelle Gatewood, Hometown:  Omaha, Neb.
Gatewood joins the team as a sophomore.  She was a three-year letter winner in cross country and track and field at Millard North.  As a senior in 2010-11, she posted a personal best 5K time of 24:13 while running career best times in the 3,200 (12:52) and the mile (6:10) in track.

Jackie Mezick, Hometown:  Bellevue, Neb.
Mezick was a four-year letter winner in cross country and track at Bellevue East.  As a senior, she was a state qualifier after posting a time of 16:10 and earning fifth place in the district meet and earned the Bellevue Leader's award for runner of the year for cross country.  In track, she helped set the school's 4 x 800 meter relay record with a time of 10:06.68 in spite of her season being cut short due to illness.  She posted a career-best 4K time of 16:08.80 at the state Class A cross country meet as a sophomore in 2009-10.  Also during her sophomore season, Mezick ran personal best 800 m (2:28.64) and 1600 M (5:31.20) times.

Carolyn Newhouse, Hometown:  Marion, Iowa
Newhouse was a four-year letter winner in cross country and a three-year letter winner in track at Linn-mar High School.  She was the conference champion as a senior, repeating the feat from her junior year and was named the Metro Athlete of the Year by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the second straight year she won the award.  She helped the team to a runner up finish at the state meet after earning conference and district championships.  Newhouse was a first team academic all-conference pick.  In track, she qualified for the prestigious Drake Relays all three years.

Kourtney Osentoski, Hometown:  Temperance, Mich.
Osentoski was a three-year letter winner in cross country at Bedford High School where she was a captain her senior year.  She qualified for the state meet while being named all-conference and all-region and was also a member of the all-state academic team.  She was all-region in each of the three years she ran cross country and was also a state qualifier as a sophomore.  In addition, Osentoski was a two-year letter winner in track.

Avery Schmidt, Hometown:  Centerville, Iowa
Schmidt was a four-year letter winner in cross country and track at Centerville High School.  As a senior, she was a first team all-conference and academic all-conference selection, helping the Redettes to a conference championship.  She was also a first team all-conference pick as a junior and a freshman and was the individual winner at the conference championship as a sophomore.  In addition, Schmidt was a four-year letter winner in basketball where she was academic all-conference as a junior and senior.  Her older sister, Blair, was a member of the UNO track and field team from 2007-10.